


A Nebulous Tale

by allthetrek



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-11-13 06:11:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18026240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allthetrek/pseuds/allthetrek
Summary: You and Captain Pike get some personal time off together. He has a romantic surprise in store for you..





	A Nebulous Tale

You and Christopher had taken some personal time away together after your previous mission had concluded. Months of grueling physical and mental exertion had left you both exhausted, and you’d hardly had time to focus on your relationship. You had an understanding: the demands of Starfleet came first for both of you. However, the more your relationship grew, the more it was becoming apparent that your priorities would have to change in the future. For years, you’d given your lifeblood for the Federation. Now, though, your bond had begun to surpass your duty; a duty to each other, your love, was trumping all else.

Christopher had an idea to surprise you, his skill at romancing a love interest a bit rusty but he was still the most romantic, thoughtful man you’d been with. He took you out in a shuttle, promising you a cosmic event that would be worth the trip. You trusted him implicitly, allowing him to pilot the two of you off to parts of the universe unknown. What did he have in mind for you? It didn’t matter, really. Anything that meant alone time with your sweet Captain was fine by you.

The two of you chatted and caught up as the shuttle coasted along at warp to your destination. You hadn’t spent much time together lately, the demands of the last mission capturing all of your focus. Now, though, back in each other’s presence, your compatibility was becoming apparent once more as the comfortable manner between you prospered given the chance.

Christopher had been tense and contemplative lately, the weight of his current and previous missions almost tangible upon his shoulders. You could see him struggle at times, the patient and resilient man he appeared to be occasionally cracking in a way only you seemed to notice. Your perceptive nature combined with your increasing knowledge of his depth allowing you to reach out to him when he needed you. You cared for him deeply, and you would be whatever he needed, whenever he needed you. And he needed you more than you could know right now.

His demeanor eased as you traveled, your company helping to distract him and ease the burden of his mind. It only took a few lightyears for him to return to the playful, positive man you loved to see. He peppered you with jokes, teasing you every chance he got, and you wouldn’t have it any other way. His dimples appeared as he beamed over at you from the helm, you sitting beside him, your feet resting on the edge of the helm control, definitely not regulation. It didn’t matter, though, this pod was destined for leisure; you were both letting go of rules and duty for a while.

Christopher’s eyes traced your beautiful features: your sweet smile directed back at him, your eyes gleaming with the genuine happiness that he brought out in you. He couldn’t believe you had chosen him, this weary old Starfleet captain. You were the most beautiful, clever, compassionate woman he’d met. You quick-wit was a rare match for him, and your ability to see him, all of him, and support him without judgement, meant the universe to him.

An alert at the helm drew his gaze from you. The shuttle had reached its destination. Moments later, it dropped out of warp, hovering a safe distance from a vast nebula. You gazed out the pod window at the massive cloud of gases, it’s appearance a hazy mixture of violet and crimson, a slight swirling motion apparent from the distance from which you studied it.

“We’re here,” Christopher chimed at you, hopeful that you would approve of his surprise.

“And where is ‘here’, exactly?” you asked him, confused as to why you were hovering outside of some unknown speck of a nebula in the middle of intergalactic nowhere.

“It’s a nebula I charted just for us. Based on the computer’s calculations, it’s about to go critical. Fusion will take place in about…,” he looked down at the helm display. “Thirty-seven minutes, fifty-two seconds. Give or take a few seconds.” He smiled at you, his dimples even more adorable when he was this proud of himself.

You took in his words, putting his puzzle together. “A star. You took us to watch the birth of a star?” You had to admit, it was pretty damn romantic. The man could woo.

Before he could answer, you leaned over to him, pressing your lips firmly onto his. His hands came to your cheeks, holding you gently as he kissed you back, the passion between the two of you building as your lips parted. He plunged his tongue longingly into your mouth, swirling around yours, and you moaned appreciatively in response.

He had been planning this for weeks. Finding a nebula that matched your time-frame wasn’t easy. The composition had to be right, the density, the location. It had been grueling to get the calculations just right. Hours of inputting data into the computer and running algorithms. Astrophysics was his least favorite pastime, after all. But, it was worth it to see you happy.

You pulled your lips from his, gazing dreamily into his steel blue eyes, which gazed lovingly back at you. “So, I take it you approve?” he asked rhetorically.

“It’s perfect,” you whispered, nuzzling your cheek into his palm. You had missed the feeling of his hands on you.

The two of you had some time before the fusion reaction within the nebula would begin, igniting the cloud of gases into a bright, innocent new star. Time you could spend sipping Saurian brandy and discussing the spectral analysis of the nebula, perhaps?

Christopher pulled himself reluctantly away from you, moving on to the second phase of his romantic plans. He walked over to the shuttlepod’s replicator. Not all pods had them, but he had chosen a fully-loaded shuttle for your trip; being Captain had its perks. “Computer, two Saurian brandies, lightly chilled,” he recited to the unit.

He waited a moment, but the replicator didn’t appear to be materializing your beverages. Christopher repeated himself, a hint of impatience in his tone. “COMPUTER, two Saurian brandies, lightly chilled.” No response. The unit appeared to be out of commission. When did this pod undergo its last maintenance check? He made a mental note to scan the maintenance manifest when he got back to the ship. Someone was going to be scrubbing plasma conduits…

You walked over to your perplexed Captain, who was now prying the access panel off of the unit. It came loose and he set it down. The two of your peered inside. You had fixed enough replicators in your time to promptly see the problem. The power conduit was corroded; a layer of ambiguous organic matter had coated it over time. An unavoidable problem with most replicator designs, but periodic stripping of the matter build-up kept them in working order. It looked like no one had ever serviced this unit, the poor thing.

You grabbed a decoupler from the shuttle toolkit and proceeded to stick it into the replicator chamber. Christopher’s hand came to your wrist, stopping you in your tracks. “Don’t you want to disconnect the power source first?” he suggested. A piece of good advice, probably.

You thought for a moment; perhaps not enough of a moment. “No, it’ll be fine as long as…,” you started, but before you could finish, the current inside arced, making contact with the metal decoupler you held near it. The current surged into the metal object, coursing instantaneously through it and into your hand. The decoupler was flung from your fingertips, flying past the Captain and hitting the other side of the pod. You leapt back, a cry of pain erupting from your vocal chords as you felt heat and pain spread along your index finger and thumb. Just a slight electrocution.

Your eyes met Christopher’s, peering down at you with concern. “Don’t. Say. It.,” you hissed at him, angry at yourself for your carelessness. You knew better. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he stated back innocently, his hands coming up in mock defense.

“No? There aren’t four little words on the tip of your tongue? Starts with an ‘I’, ends with a… ‘You so’?” you stated with a knowing smirk as you used your good hand to deactivate the power to the compartment, as he had told you to do in the first place.

“That’s not what I was thinking at all,” Christopher stated, a playful smile mimicking yours, but disappearing quickly as he turned his attention to your hand, taking it in his. He inspected the reddening skin along your index finger and into the crook of your thumb. His fingers gingerly traced the burn. “Ouch!” you yelped, the burn getting more painful by the second.

“I’m sorry,” he stated in response, “Let me take care of this for you.” Words you loved hearing from his lips. Too bad he was talking about the plasma burn this time…

Christopher guided you to sit down on the nearby bench seat. He grabbed the med kit, pulling out the dermal regenerator. He sat beside you, holding your hand in his strong, careful grip. The regenerator worked quickly, promoting cell proliferation to heal your damaged tissue. You felt the pain ease, the wound disappearing as though it had never been.

“That should do it. You really should be more careful,” Christopher teased you.

“Yeah? If only someone would have warned me…,” you mumbled back, smiling and pushing your body mischievously into him. He chuckled, replacing the regenerator into the kit and bringing both hands to yours. His fingertips traced the area where the burn had been. He hated to see you hurt in any way, but he really did love the opportunity to take care of you.

Christopher brought your hand to his lips, kissing the area that had been wounded gently. He proceeded to trail kisses along each of your fingers; slow, tender kisses, his eyes meeting yours, no words needed to communicate the love he was feeling. You felt your chest tighten, your heartbeat increasing as he sent sparks coursing through you. The good kind of sparks. An electrocution of love.

He insisted that you remain sitting and allow him to fix the replicator. He retrieved the decoupler and detached the power conduit, proceeding to clean and reinstall it. You watched him work, loving this handyman side of him. The way his brow furrowed when he was concentrating; the little frown line between his eyes becoming visible.

“That should do it!” he declared, re-initializing the power source. He repeated his earlier order, and this time two glasses of perfectly lightly chilled Saurian brandy appeared in the chamber. Christopher took them and handed one to you, then offered you his hand. You took them both, standing up and allowing him to guide you back to the helm, his hand coming to your waist to gently guide you like the gentleman he was. His chivalry was not lost on you. You loved his attentive, gallant demeanor. He had a way of making you feel so special, never shy to communicate his feelings and to wear his heart on his sleeve.

You both sat at the helm and Christopher raised his glass. “To you, [Y/N]. There’s no one in the universe I’d rather be here with. I love you.” His words were concise, but the emotion visible on his face was so genuine, so devoted. You beamed back at him, your heart so full at this moment. “I love you too.”

You tapped your glass to his, the resonance echoing around the pod a moment before being absorbed by the dense material. You sipped the brandy, sweet notes of berries blending perfectly with an unidentifiable minerality.

You and Christopher spent the remainder of the countdown debating what the unknown elements on the spectral analysis could be, and whether or not the shuttle was indeed at a safe distance. You would find out soon, you supposed.

Finally, it was time. The computer uttered an alert and Christopher suddenly reached over and pulled you onto his lap. Your arms came around his shoulders, and he held you tightly in place as you watched the cloud of gases begin to transform into a brilliant new celestial body. The light would have been blinding, but the pod compensated, allowing you to view it safely. The purple and crimson gas cloud became a scintillating ball of white light, oscillating and pulsating with the heartbeat of the universe.

Christopher detached his gaze from the spectacle outside, surveying your face instead. Your eyes were agleam with the radiant light from the exterior as you fixated on this rare sight. It was breathtaking, but the Captain only had eyes for you right now. He leaned in and kissed your shoulder, resting his chin on it for a moment as he closed his eyes, taking in your sweet, loving energy and your delicious scent. He held you close, enjoying the moment, his hand rubbing up and down your side, feeling your warmth and the way you fit perfectly in his arms.

He had searched for meaning and fulfillment among the stars, and for years he had found it there, for the most part. Now, though, he began to realize that meaning and fulfillment were sitting right here, in his lap. He didn’t need to traverse the cosmos for the rest of his life. Everything he’d been through, accomplished, endured up until this point, it was all worth it because he had found you.

You adjusted on his lap, nestling closer into him, his cheek pressing into your chest. He could just hear your heartbeat over the ambient noise of the shuttle. Here you were, anchored in the frigid and seemingly endless void of space, anything but cold and empty when you were together.


End file.
